Don't Bite Pegs to Tune!!! Fix Stuck Violin Pegs Quickly and Easily! 

I would generally suggest doping your pegs (peg paste is also known as peg dope) when changing strings, as it is ever so much fun trying to restring with used curly strings.

I haven't waited for this video to start, but pegs will stick as humidity increases from dry conditions, causing the wood to swell a certain amount, including the pegs & a peg can become quite stuck. To loosen it I use a pin or taper punch (& with a small hammer) to apply impact to the (narrow) end of the peg to loosen that taper. Trying to twist it out will only break the head of the peg off etc., this is why I always advise players to adjust the pegs for tuning now & again & not just with the fine tuners, particularly in changing humidity conditions to avoid stuck pegs or the reverse, finding all the strings slack because the pegs shrank in dry conditions. Sorry if I stole your thunder. 🙂

Soooooo timely! My teacher just suggested to me, and I've been looking for a video on the proper way to do it. Glad it's your video!

I wish I had seen this before one of my violin peg tuners seized on my 100 year old ukulele. The peg split and became pulverized 😢 I ended up having a violinmaker install peghead planetary tuners, which is much easier for tuning but I have a small regret for not keeping the instrument original. Oh well, it's a player and the peghead tuners are very lightweight so the ukulele is still nicely balanced. Thanks for the great video!

Thank you!

I've used Hill&co (I call it peg grease instead of paste) for as long as I can remember. As a treat I usually do this for any violin that comes in for a set-up, repair or string change as well. Great video as usual :)

I have liquid peg drops I've had them for a long time . I didn't know about the paste yrs ago. but it works good.

I was using pliers, ha ha. My violin teacher was NOT pleased. I got wittner pegs, so happy with them.

Can you do a video on replacing and reeming hole for end buttons?

Interesting

My pegs are hard to turn but also slip progressively when I'm tuning. A bit of a 'contradiction' but that seems to happen. I've used peg paste which helps a bit with turning. It was recommended by someone that I should finely sand the pegs to stop slipping. What do you think?

finally

Are the Boxwood pegs kinder to the peg box than the harder Rosewood or Ebony pegs? To me the easier poison to swallow would be going with the softer pegs and deal with those wearing out rather than the peg box itself. Best!

I really wanted to know how to get the stuck peg out in the first place. No vids show this, so ill deal with it myself...

Use glycerin, olive oil works good too.

Is peg paste made from graphite?

Thanks Olaf. Quick question: Would a violin maker be averse to peg work on a traditional style flamenco guitar with friction pegs? It's a bit tricky to find a guitar luthier familiar with pegs as machine heads are far more common.

Olaf, I was wondering if a cartoon mouse had a nibble on the peg on your thumbnail. I managed to stop them chewing mine with Wittner finetune pegs.

Brompton's Auctioneers from the UK came to NZ to value people's violins. They said mine would sell for £3000 pounds in the UK, that would be equivalent to $6000 in NZ and I saw in the US a violin like mine was sold for $4000 US dollars which would add up to more than $6000 NZ dollars. Mine is a French antique Jerome thibouville-lamy violin. What do you say? Because of my epilepsy I want to sell mine because I would never be able to replace it if something happened to because of a seizure..It Is either sell it or let it collect dust. I would rather keep my violins that I got from Philip Whitehead a luthier near by me because they can be replaced and are regularly used. The value of my French Antique is stopping me from using because I never know when the next seizure will happen.

What material are the pegs in the video?

why don't violins have tuners like those on a double bass?

Your pegpaste seems to be much softer than mine. Mine is also quite brittle, so it was quite hard to get any to stay on the peg.

Omg😂😂😂

Just Frankenstein it and fit guitar tuners in the peg Holes 😂

🅾🅱🅻🅸🅶🅰🆃🅾🆁🆈 🅰🅻🅶🅾🆁🅸🆃🅷🅼 🅱🅾🅾🆂🆃 👍👍

My A peg always like to slip

Wait...do people really bite them?! 😱😱😱😱

OR get geared pegs join the 20th century ! (I know its the 21st , thats my point😮)

Pegs...we call those keys... :)

Haha. Stuck pegs that you don't have the strength to rotate? That's never the problem for me, the problem is that if I try to force it they will break.

Don't bite them?! You violinists are fucking feral!

I'm guilty of this 😅 my peg was so stuck that i couldnt turn it. I used to use a wrench😂 and it broke

1. Get them removed. 2. Get planetaries installed. 🙂Problem solved!